Foxconn executive, wife duped out of $260K in home purchase attempt
Records: Florida suspect connected to victims in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania
Records: Florida suspect connected to victims in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania
Records: Florida suspect connected to victims in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania
The same day a Foxconn executive and his wife were swindled out of more than $260,000, a man in Florida was trying to dupe a Pennsylvania victim out of an additional $138,000, court records obtained by the WISN 12 News Investigative Unit confirmed.
On Feb. 7, Stella Chan, wife of Foxconn executive Alan Yeung, communicated by email with a person she thought represented Landmark Title of Racine, Inc. to discuss the couple's desire to purchase a home, according to a return on a search warrant filed in Milwaukee County court on Tuesday.
The document said the couple went to the Wells Fargo bank on East Wisconsin Avenue to send a wire transfer of $260,146.93, not realizing the person they were actually in contact with was a scammer.
"It was not until after the transaction was complete did the victims learn that the emails were not actually coming from the title company, but rather someone that was impersonating their identity using a similar looking email address," Milwaukee police Officer Sean Koscielak wrote in the warrant affidavit.
The couple was directed to wire the money to an account belonging to John Tata, an alias which caught the attention of investigators in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
"A subject was in custody with their department for a similar offense, where he used the alias of 'John Tata' both verbally and a passport for Sierra Leone which matched the passport in our case," Koscielak wrote.
He said Florida investigators later used an Illinois driver's license found in the suspect's vehicle to identify him as Charles Kuti.
According to Kuti's arrest report in Florida, he tried to collect on a fraudulent wire transfer worth $138,044.43 from a business email compromise.
"The victim's email was spoofed with a similar email leading to the compromising of the bank account," Fort Lauderdale police Officer Pete Haritos wrote.
The funds actually belonged to a victim who lives in Pennsylvania, he noted.
A bank branch manager noticed the suspicious activity and called police when Kuti returned to the bank after he was told he needed proper documentation.
When interviewed by investigators, Haritos said Kuti implicated himself in a previous business email theft of $67,500 from Core-Program.com.
Kuti faces a long list of financial crime charges including four counts of grand theft, three counts of money laundering and defrauding a financial institution in Florida.
He is not currently charged in the case involving Yeung.
A spokesperson for Yeung said he was not immediately available to comment on the case.
The records do not indicate if he and his wife were able to get their money back.
Although the crimes and victims are connected to at least three states, a check of federal court databases in those states do not show any federal charges against Kuti.